Tim Fraser's collection of old machines

The end of an era:
Here's how I described my collection of obsolete computer hardware
back in 2002 -- the heyday of my retrocomputing hobby:

I collect old UNIX workstations, X Terminals, and dumb terminals. DEC
VT dumb terminals are my favorites. Many of these items are in
day-to-day use in various parts of my house running Debian GNU/Linux.
I'd call it retrocomputing, except that these old machines are running
the latest applications, doing the latest things. There's nothing
quite like browsing the Web on a classic Digital VT102 terminal - a
workhorse that was many a hacker's window onto the universe more than
10 years before the Web burst into prominence. (Or whatever it's burst
into.)

Although I still have all of my old hardware, 2004 was the last year I
had any of the machines in constant use. Now they're all lined up on
display in my basement. The HP/Apollo X-terminal and its massive
1024x768 pixel monitor was a workhorse for quite some time, even
though it didn't have enough RAM to display the default Gnome desktop
environment. I relied upon a Multia workstation for NAT and DHCP
duties for even longer. But, with some reluctance, I eventually
replaced all of these with smaller, quieter, and less power-hungry
appliances, laptops, and palmtops.

Left: three Digital Equipment Corporation Multia workstations on top
of an Alphastation 250. Right: A NeXTStation.

I regret retiring my Digital Equipment Corporation VT's the most, but
now that I carry my computers around with me rather than racking them
in the basement, not even I can find an excuse to use them. The VT102
at left remains the pride of my collection, with its rounded
futuristic case design. Right: note the huge three-conductor plug
on its keyboard cable!

The HP/Apollo fixed-frequency monitors must have been sensational in
their time with their 1024x768 pixel resolution. Although their
diagonal width is 19", the viewable area is only about 17", and the
severe curvature of the CRT display makes it somewhat unpleasant to
read text on the edges of the screen. These monitors each weigh more
than I can comfortably lift. I have two, on top of the Apollo 720
workstation and the smaller 700/RX X-terminal, pictured at left.

I didn't understand what "full height" meant when I ordered the
refurbished SCSI hard drive on-line pictured at right. I didn't have
a case big enough to hold it until I stumbled upon an empty Compaq
tape drive enclosure at a hamfest.

The saga for the Sun Ultra/5: The Sun Ultra/5 workstation
pictured at left has an interesting story: I used to work for a
company that did contract work for the US government. Often these
contracts would include funds for buying computing equipment.
Although the company would have the use of this equipment for their
contract work, the equipment itself was still considered government
property. Humorless government inspectors would regularly come out to
the company's site to make sure all the equipment was still there and
clearly labeled as government property. Rumor had it that one
inspector even insisted that every removable peripheral (mouse,
keyboard) have its own "Property of U.S. Government" tag.

In theory, the government could take back the equipment at the end of
a contract and lend it to another contracting company, but since the
machines were generally no longer state-of-the-art by that time, the
government never seemed to want them back. As years went by and
contracts began and ended, old machines began piling up at the
company's site. Regulations forbade the company to sell, give, or
throw the machines away, as they were still government property.
Eventually, the space wasted on old machine storage became such a
crisis that the company finally managed to get some relief: the
government would allow the company could sell the old machines -- but
only as scrap metal to a recognized scrap metal dealer.

In their eagerness to be free of storage problems at last, the company
decided to scrap some machines that were still reasonably new --
including a number of Sun Ultra/5's. It seemed absurd to me that
these machines should go to scrap, but the law was the law, and the
company couldn't give or sell one to me. However, it was perfectly
acceptable for me to phone the scrapyard and make a deal directly with
them. Once the machines were out of the company's building and
officially sold to the scrapper, I handed a check to the scrapper's
truck driver and one Ultra/5 and a rather good PC were mine for only
$40US apiece. Considering their low value as scrap, I think it was a
good deal for both of us.

Here's the list of my old computer equipment. This list does not
contain entries for the many consumer-oriented home computers, Macs,
and PCs that I've owned over the years. I got my first Apple //c in
1986, and my first Intel i386-based PC in 1990. PC's are so easy to
convert into parts, it's become difficult for me to tell where one PC
ends and the next one begins. Similarly, the list does not contain
entries for machines that I've given away.

Model

Make

Use

CPU

Built

Bought

Cost

VT102

DEC

glass tty

?

1983

1998

free

Multia/UDB

DEC

desktop

Alpha 21066

1995

1999

$200US

Multia/UDB

DEC

desktop

Alpha 21066

1995

1999

$200US

VT420

DEC

glass tty

?

1991

1999

$5US

NeXTStation

NeXT

desktop

Motorola 608040

1991

2000

free

Apollo 720

HP

desktop

PA7000 (PCX-S)

1991?

2001

free

Apollo 700/RX

HP

X terminal

PA7000 (PCX-S)

1992?

2001

free

AlphaStation 250

DEC

desktop

Alpha 21064A

1995

2001

$120US

Multia/UDB

DEC

desktop

Alpha 21066

1995

2001

free

Sun Ultra/5

Sun

desktop

UltraSparc-IIi

1998

2001

$40US

VT520

DEC

glass tty

?

1994

2002

free

Here are some pictures of the keyboards that belong to some of these
machines, provided at the request of one keyboard enthusiast on the Net.
Click on the thumbnail images to retrieve higher-resolution images.